Hey folks, your resident Dank Angels expert returns, although a few days late, to cover the Friday, January 29th preview for the Dark Angels. I know that by this point that many content creators posted videos and general idea reviews about the book already. I am not one of these fortunate few so this is my opinion and reaction based on what I’ve been given by the Warhammer Community page. Friday’s article covered the Crusade rules for Dark Angels. I have yet to play Crusade but I eagerly anticipated the Dark Angels specific rules so that I could start playing it at full narrative effect. I usually don’t go in for small model count games but this can get very big and I love being able to delve into the narrative side of the Dark Angels. Friday’s preview covered an agenda and some relics.
For anyone that has played Maelstrom of War in previous editions of Warhammer 40,000, you know all about the Dark Angels and their Secret Agenda. The stratagem still exists apparently but it now resides in the Matched Play rules. Thank you to the aforementioned easy access content creators. The agendas in Crusade operate as secondaries do in Matched Play and the new Dark Angels one, None Must Know, fits perfectly like a Interrogator-Chaplain’s fist to a heretic’s face. The agenda requires your opponent to select up to 5 non-Dark Angels units in either player's army and if they die then the Dark Angels player collects an Unforgiven Point for each unit destroyed. This means that if you bring some Guardsmen or a pesky Inquisitor along, they might need silencing. One of my favorite lore popouts in an old codex covers this exact scenario. Some Deathwing Terminators apprehend a member of the Fallen and then notice some Guardsmen looking on. All that passes between the terminators is a shake of the head and the Guardsmen are ripped to pieces by bolter fire.
I love that one of my favorite lore aspects of the Dark Angels, the need to keep their secrets even from fellow Imperials, is now functionally playable. The article goes on to say that once you acquire 20 Unforgiven Points, then your opponent receives a Fallen model to put in their army and you have to try and kill them in the next game. This gets my hobby muscles tingling because now I have a playing reason to dust off my primed Cypher miniature I pitched in for back in 7th edition. I look forward to hitting the hobby table in a blinding passion so that I can appropriately enjoy my Crusade. Do remember that you only get up to 5 Unforgiven Points a game so you’ll have 4 games at least before you need to finish that Fallen model if you are a procrastinator. No, procrastinator is not one of the new Stormcast Eternals units and if you think that they are then you definitely are one.
Luckily, Games Workshop didn’t procrastinate on the Crusade relics. These too offer opportunities for fun hobby projects. The Lion’s Roar, if your memory goes back to the Dark Age, is a combi-plasma that returns now as a Narrative Play only item. The Raven’s Eye makes a marine target your enemies with greater accuracy while on the move. Finally, the Shield of Calloson grants a 3+ invulnerable save which is now hard to come by in Matched Play. Games Workshop was not forthcoming about specifics here but based on other books we do have plenty to look forward to in this department. Many things that don’t make it into the 9th Edition Matched Play relics from 8th Edition reappear in Crusade and some old classics always seem to make a cameo appearance as well.
I look forward to playing Crusade just as much as Matched Play when we get our hands on the new supplementary codex next weekend. My cohost on the Path to Redemption Podcast, Heath, and I plan to record our February episode of THE Warhammer 40,000 podcast for Dark Angels players this coming weekend as long as our books don’t get eaten by the Warp. We will go over our 5 favorite hot takes in the book and then we will spend the next several months disseminating every drop of information from the book in a manner that would make Asmodi blush. While waiting on this release weekend podcast, please feel free to listen to last month's episode!
Until next time, keep it Dank,
Bailey
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